New Abbey


New Abbey is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is around south of Dumfries. The summit of the prominent hill Criffel is to the south.
The village has a wealth of history including the ruined Cistercian abbey Sweetheart Abbey, founded by Lady Devorgilla in 1273 in memory of her husband John Balliol. She kept his embalmed heart close to her for the rest of her life. The monks named the abbey dulce cor. The village has a watermill, the New Abbey Corn Mill. Loch Kindar has a crannog and the village has the remains of Kirk Kindar on an island located just outside the village.
The village has a saw mill, a hotel, a village shop, a coffee shop, a primary school, a doctor's surgery, a village hall, a bowling green, a football pitch - Maryfield Park, a Church of Scotland church. A Roman Catholic church, St Mary's, designed by the New Abbey born architect Walter Newall, closed in 2013. It is now The Thomas Bagnall Centre with occasional retreats and Mass said here.
Two burns flow through the village: the New Abbey Pow which runs into the River Nith Estuary and the Sheep Burn.

Notable people